Parent optimistic as Rescue wounds heal

Raymond Parent (Courtesy photo)

LEBANON - Back on Jan. 1 it was Raymond Parent to the rescue, and the new Lebanon Rescue Department chief says things are moving along and volunteers are pulling together to make it happen.

Parent, a longtime Sanford Fire and Rescue chief and a former interim Sanford town manager, is retooling the administrative end of the complicated process associated with ambulance billing, a process that was lacking according to recent audits of the rescue department under former chief Samantha Cole and her husband, assistant chief Jason Cole.

Both Coles resigned their positions with Rescue effective Jan. 1 when Parent came on board. Jason Cole also resigned his Lebanon selectman’s position effective the same day.

Parent has spent the majority of his time healing the fiscal and emotional wounds from the previous administration and streamlining the revenue collection on ambulance runs and dispatch.

Parent has left much of the operational end to Rescue Capt. A.J. Small, while Deputy Chief Tim Wagner concentrates on supplies and equipment.

The changeover from a longtime administration by the Coles makes for a daunting challenge, but Parent said everyone is pulling together to make it happen.

“We’re adjusting; we’re putting things together,” Parent said on Monday. “We’re doing it together.”

Parent has had a long history of outstanding service to the fire and rescue community, work that has not gone unnoticed. His awards include the Maine Governor’s EMS Award in 1994, Fire Chief of the Year by the Maine State Fire Chiefs’ Association in 2005, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by York County Fire/Rescue Chiefs Association in 2008. In 2010 the Sanford Kiwanis Club named him its Citizen of the Year.

He retired in 2011 after 14 years as Sanford’s fire chief. He said earlier this year that he returned to help out Lebanon Rescue at the request of a friend. He is regarded as highly skilled in the administrative aspect of rescue operations as well as its operational side.

Parent said Lebanon Rescue now carries a roster of almost 30 volunteers and about half of them are EMTs. He said the town is getting excellent coverage from Rescue personnel, but he would like to bolster his volunteer numbers to provide even better coverage.

He said he’d like to have a dozen more trained EMTs on staff, but welcomes volunteers who might want to help out as drivers and other positions to train as EMTs. He said anyone interested should call him immediately at 207.608.5614.